Optical Flow Sensor Measures Blood Flow Velocity

Engineers at Australia’s Flinders University have developed a thin catheter that measures small changes in blood flow. “An LED that produces a yellow light is used to heat passing blood near the distal tip of the catheter. A fiber Bragg grating sensor is then used to detect these slight changes in temperature. The faster the slightly warmed blood is detected by the sensor, the faster it is moving through the vessel. Because the process takes microseconds, the results are nearly instantaneous.” MORE